I truly believe that the best craft supplies are free. Imagine all the money you could save, if you just took the time to recycle the items you would normally throw away. Think of it as a two-for-one. You spent the money for one purpose and now you are going to turn it into another thing. And with summer here & school being out, the boredom is going to start! So of course you will have the urge {and nagging from children} to buy new craft supplies. In turn you will be spending lots of money to keep them busy. But before you throw anything away next time, picture it as a canvas for your next craft project.
Every toilet paper roll, cardboard box & plastic water bottle that I come across, goes in our stock pile of craft supplies for lil man. I even save tissue paper from gifts we receive, as well as buttons on faded clothes. You never know when you might “need” a particular piece to complete a project. Recently I took a water bottle & turned it into a rocket for lil man. It was really inexpensive & after a few hours of play, I didn’t feel guilty about throwing it away. After all, it was from recycled pieces I would have thrown away in the first place.
If you would like to make a Water Bottle Rocket with your child, here is what you need:
* Clean, empty water bottle
* Various Paint Colors
* White School Glue
* Marbles/Old Beads-Anything round that will roll around in the bottle, will do
* Tissue Paper
First you will want to paint the inside of the water bottle.
Just squirt some paint inside the water bottle. Drop some marbles/beads in the bottle. Place/tighten cap on the water bottle.
Hand it over to your child & let them “shake” the bottle, until the paint covers the entire inside of the bottle. Depending on how you shake or what colors you use, you might get a marble effect inside the bottle.
Once the inside of the bottle is completely covered in paint, it’s time to add the flames to the rocket.
Together with your child, help tear the tissue paper into various sized strips. Depending on how full you want the flames to look, depends on how many strips you need.
Next add a huge dollop of glue on the bottom of the water bottle. Start adding the strips of tissue paper to the glue, to make it look like flames coming out of the water bottle.
Let the glue dry completely. Then hand it over to your child & let them play with their new rocket.
After a little imagination {and a few rocket themed stories} our rocket really came to life.
How have you used recycled items for crafts? Ever made a rocket like this?
Ignacia Zaragosa says
Hi Stacey! Greetings from Oxnard,Ca! I love your Rocket craft idea and will try it out this summer for summer school. Recycling is important and you’re making it fun through crafts! How do I subscribe to your website? I will leave my info. below for you. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Ignacia (“Iggie”)